I have to believe this was a $100k car in its day, or bloody close. Two years and 47k miles later, it can be had for $38k???

http://www.huntingridgemotors.com/ca...subcat=S_class

 

That car was in the 80's new. But still, that's some serious depreciation!

 

All the old S class's where done a severe blow when the remake of the S class entered the scene last year. My 04 CL depreciated 50% in one year. You could get a new CL 04 55 right off the lot for 70 grand. The old S classes were great cars and still are but very cheap.

Should of thought of that on the post for the beater commute NYC car on the 997 board.

 

That's just funny! A two year old S class MB, a beater commuter car!!!! The really funny part is that its tough to disagree! Here in NYC, it is tough to find this body style S class. Seems like very one has the "new" body style. Guess that shows how many people lease vs own.

 

The same is true for Range Rovers when the new model came along. Trade-in value went to zero and the secondary market soon followed.

Rule: "Never get caught holding the baby."

As for the S, the problem is a short term supply and demand issue. I was trying to get one (an '05 S500) as a daily driver (great family car, very safe, easy to drive, quiet and around here, not a status symbol, just a big Benz.) But funnily enough, chasing down the numerous, numerous examples and finding the one I wanted was a headache. And you need to find one at an MB dealership to get an extended warranty, because the eariler models in particular can have very expensive hiccups. Great car, though. And for almost all situations, a better car than I ever expect the Panamera to be when it shows up. (See: you thought I wasn't going to come around to any Porsche content in this post, now didn't you? : )